Glimpse
by Falling Tears of Death
Summary: Short stories of the Naruto characters. read and review
1. Wings

A/N: So this series will follow the same rules as Clips…tell a story in 5 sentences or less. Usually character based although some pairings (yaoi and het) will and can occur.

Character: Chouji

No one ever tells Chouji to stop using the red pills anymore. Honestly, he thinks no one _cares _if Chouji uses the red pills anymore, even if he dies—which he will—and its not because they trust the Hokage, so much as that death is OK in the Leaf Village. Its never stated but understood that the village, and everything it meant, was supposed to be more important than anything else—even friendship, which is why, he supposes…its OK that Sasuke and Naruto really are trying to kill each other. So Chouji uses the red pill again and again and again—and he's growing and shrinking then growing and shrinking and oh so very much dying—but all this doesn't change the size of his heart, which is where Shikamaru will forever remain, and so he does this for him…not for the village but for his true companion. A shinobi might call this being a failure—Chouji calls it being a friend.

-Oh butterfly they like you better framed and dried-

Sentence Count: 5


	2. Middle

Character: Kiba

Kiba is in-between—always…it's the one thing he's hated about his life…the one thing that has defined his life. He's somewhere in the middle of greatness and failure, of thie and that, dark and light, of animal and man—he just is. But then he looks into Naruto's red eyes and 2+2 stare to _mean _something—maybe Naurto is sort of stuck here, in in-between too. Actually, looking into Naruto's red eyes Kiba feels more than thinks that maybe they are all in-between. So somewhere, in-between the in-between, Kiba feels—for the first time in a really long time—this is where he belongs.

-Home is a feeling more than a place-

Sentence count: 5


	3. Exchange

Character: Sakura and Ino

Sakura and Ino aren't really friends anymore. If Ino ever let herself think about it she'd know that all stupid excuses aside—its not Sasuke, and its not even a rivalry, its not that the Hokage chose Sakura instead of Ino. No, even though when people ask those are the reasons they both say…its more. It's the fact that Ino's team will always be there for her…that Ino's team would _die_ before betraying each other, it's the fact that Sakura will _be_ great because of her position in things, that people will _always_ look at Sakura as if this makes her a better ninja than Ino, it's the fact that Ino loves Sakura's pretty pink hair and Sakura wishes she had Ino's forehead. It's the fact that they both have everything the other wants, and they can't really change that—Sakura and Ino will never be friends anymore because deep down they both know—they wouldn't even _if_ they could.

-Just bells for her that I ring-

Sentence count: 5

A/N: inspired by bells for her by Tori amos.


	4. Fate

Character: Shikamaru

After the mission you'll blame yourself. Blame yourself for always being everything less than perfect—even though you did what you could, even though you did it the best way for everyone…not just yourself (_no one else can really say that_). You'll sit in the waiting room thinking of all the things you could have done differently…Kakashi will say your still a kid, not for the reason you think he does (_like failing_) but because really—it wouldn't have made a difference anyways.

-1000 roads to lead you here-

Sentence count: 3


	5. Assume

Character: Sasuke

Sasuke doesn't expect Naruto and Sakura to understand, doesn't expect that when this is all over to just walk back and be welcomed with open arms. Then again, Sasuke didn't expect the day that Naruto and him would really be trying to kill each other, or that after everything Naruto would still be stronger than him. So now he's lying on the floor, broken and beaten despite how cliché it sounds, and despite the situation all he can hear is his mother lecturing him and Itachi about what to assume really means.

-Just a slight miscalculation between the heart and mind-

Sentence count:3


	6. Masks

Character: Neji

Neji isn't very good at expressing his feelings. So when Lee comes rushing in, (in the way Neji knows only Lee can rush), and asks him to train…Neji will say yes in that way—the way that makes it seem like Lee is bothering him, like all he really wants is to be left alone. He'll say yes in his way—as if just being with Lee isn't the only fate Neji has ever wished for.

-I saw the sky in you-

Sentence Count: 3


	7. Wall

Character: Naruto

Some days Naruto blames Sasuke more than he blames himself. Some days he wishes he could just go and hit him, hit him and then say…this is the path you have chosen Sasuke because you are selfish and the only thing keeping you from me (from everyone really) is yourself. But in reality, Naruto knows—Sasuke would die before he let him get that close.

-Who put these bodies between us?-

Sentence Count: 3


	8. Chrysalis

Character: Shino

You hate it when Hinta looks at you…its awkward. Granted it's not her fault, but when she's looking at you she's looking _in_ you…and you feel violated (for lack of better word). You know she can see every insect crawling and spawning inside your veins and you feel naked and bare (ashamed really)—Hinta looks inside of you and you can't help but feel a little less human (its enough to almost make you regret not being nicer to Kiba).

It's enough to make you want to crawl into a corner—but then that's such a _bug _thing to do and somewhere inside, you're still human.

-Histolysis and Histogenesis-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: Histolysis is the process of cell death in metamorphosis when the larva makes acids to destroy much of the larva body only leaving few cells intact. Histogenesis is the process of cell regrowth when the few remaining cells use the nutrients from the broken down larva to create the adult form. Ok….science lesson over -.


	9. Mere

Character: Itachi

Itachi thinks he's going crazy; crazy in the way that when Kisame cuts something (anything), all he sees is his mother in her strong and delicate way, cutting fruit in perfect tiny slices, her hands stained with juice, like a painter (Kisame just looks like a killer, its only natural). Crazy in the way that when Sasuke lies on the floor beaten, again, all his Sharingan eyes see is little defensless Sasuke in his mother's cold arms, her lips mumbling some distant lullaby—Itachi just watches, just watches as she sings, just watches as she cuts, just watches as she dies and deos everything in that pretty, plain way only a Uchiha mother can. Itachi is going crazy (insane really) in the way that When he imagines Sasuke killing him—its Sasuke in his mothers dress, cold words mumbled from his pretty pink lips (_singing and down will come baby, carriage and all_).

-Lord listen Love, we're all missing mama-

Sentence Count: 3


	10. Same

Character: Hinata

Hinata has changed—she fights on her own now. She gets up on her own now, but still—she falls on her own and she looses on her own too. Hinata hasn't changed so much that she doesn't want to cry; but Kiba is saying something about _pride_, so she holds it in—she doesn't think any tears or words can explain what being _worthless_ is.

-I know you tried to change-

Sentence count: 3

A/N: Inspired by paperdragonfly -


	11. Novel

Character: Kakashi

Kakashi loves Iruka's smile, he smiles like he's happy like somewhere in his heart her feels as if he's making his parents happy. Iruka smiles and Kakashi remembers what being a ninja is for, for the few moments that are safe and knowing that you did everything you could to make them. But instead of saying anything, Kakashi just walks by, he knows—this isn't Icha Icha, ninjas can't just go and fall in love with each other, but that doesn't mean he can't want to.

-We will never be, I am the moon-

Sentence Count: 3


	12. Golden

Character: Lee

Lee does not believe in making promises that can not be kept. So when Sakura asks him to _never_ leaver her, never make her cry the way Sasuke did, Lee remains quite. He hugs her softly and tells her that she is his everything, that she alone is the reason his heart beats and it will beat for her as long as he is breathing—he knows this is not what she is asking for but this is the promise he will give to her (the _only _promise he really can give)…to only make the promises he can.

-Things that are golden won't break so easily-

Sentences: 3


	13. Past

Character: Jiraiya

Sometimes you wish you could tell Naruto that caring about someone isn't good enough (your thinking of days with _him_, time spent training and fighting and laughing or sometimes just being together.) If it were…you think everything would be _so _different now—then again maybe it isn't fair to compare the two. Somewhere deep inside you _know_, that despite whatever you and Tsunade told yourselves so you could sleep at night—in the end you never did try hard enough. Sometimes (like now), you think its time to accept that maybe (more than likely) unlike Sasuke and Naruto—you weren't _enough_ for him to want to come back.

-Had a northern lad, well not really had-

Sentence Count: 4


	14. Unique

Character: Tenten

Lately, Tenten thinks that her and Sakura are more alike than they used to be. Every time Tenten trains she sees Sakura training—trying to become better, trying to catch up—to be worthy. But then, Tenten thinks of Lee never fighting again, thinks of the monster inside of Naruto, of the look on Neji's face as he walks back to the Hyuuga compound, the concept of watching Sasuke's back as he takes the first of many steps away from them—and it hits her…the reasons they are the same—can never really_ be_ equivalent at all (she's not sure who she should feel sorry for.)

-The very thing that makes us the same makes us different-

Sentence Count:3


	15. Self

Character: Iruka

You've always belonged to someone (you can still remember the kids taunting you—momma's boy, Hokage's pet, Mizuki's boy…boyfriend?) It's how you fit, in the same way Naurto is made to be a hero or Shikamaru is made to be a leader—lazy or not. So you don't know how you feel when Kakashi is pulled in, his moon-lit hair caked in red. They all give you that _look_ and say he might not make it (actually what they say is 'sorry Kakashi's friend? He doesn't look so well…sorry.') And you just sit there and cry…not for him, but for you—all your life you've been everyone else's boy and now its finally time for you to be your own.

-The art of loosing is not hard to master-

Sentence Count: 5


	16. Epidemic

Character: Tsunade

It's hard to watch someone you love go down a path that you can't help them, and maybe it says something for how selfish you are because you wouldn't anyways (or maybe it says something for how much of a coward you've become). You wouldn't help him because—ironically, your diseased and your trying not to infect him, to love him but not hurt him (it's hard). He's traveling deeper and deeper into revenge, obsession, he's traveling and even though he doesn't know it…all your dreams are being dragged behind him. He's everything you have left, and your loosing—loss is obsessed with you and even the boy with ocean eyes can't be immune (they don't call you the legendary loser for nothing, do they?)

-World like a dewdrop, though it's only a dewdrop-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: Quote is an excerpt from a haiku by Issa:

/World like a dewdrop,

though it's only a dewdrop

even so, even so/-- written when the last of his five children died at a very young age, and he was left alone, as he remained for the rest of his life. According to Buddhist teaching, life is as fleeting as a dewdrop and so one should not grow attached to the things of this world.


	17. Treason

Character: Mizuki

Mizuki _hates_ how everyone calls him a traitor. It's so stupid and childish and emotionally personal. He hates it the most when Iruka calls him a traitor (or maybe that's just jealousy but he'd _never_ admit that), it's not as if Iruka would have understood, its not as if Iruka or anyone for that matter cared about anything more than the damn village. So they all call him a traitor, as if it should hurt (it doesn't, nothing does really), Mizuki wants to say to them (Iruka especially)—you can't betray what you never cared for.

-Don't disturb the universe-

Sentence Count: 3

A/N: Quote taken as an excerpt from a quote from the book chocolate war

"_They tell you to do your thing but they don't mean it. They don't want you to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It's a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don't disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say"_

It makes more sense when you know where it came from.


	18. Film

Character: Asuma

Just like the movies, he wakes up one day and realizes its love. On that day he decides to be more than he is, to be a better sensei, a better ninja, a better man—he decides he'll even stop smoking…eventually. And just like the movies when he dies its all in slow motion, his whole life is trailing not flashing before his eyes and all he's thinking is—he never told her, he never told her and instead of smoke all he can taste is her (its everything that could have, might have, _should_ have been but won't).

-Isn't it pretty to think how good we could have been?-

Sentence Count: 3


	19. Philosophy

Character: The 3rd Hokage

Your 17, deeply in love and heartbroken because of some girl, some girl who couldn't handle loving a dying man…it is then that you decide—there will never be a perfect way to love someone. This deeply affects you, changes you as a person, and allows you to excuse yourself for the many mistakes you make along the way…it is your peace of mind. It is this decision that makes it _ok _that your gifted student is falling further away from humanity and deeper into some foreign darkness…and it is this same decision that makes it _ok_ that all anyone does (including his friends, _best friends_) is watch. You are 69 and dying, hoping that in your death you can right your wrong…that somehow your death will be your payment for allowing Orochimaru to loose himself, for not doing everything you could, for not being the best that you _really_ could. You are 69 and it is now that you realize years to late (as many realizations are) there might not be a perfect way to love someone but there _is_, in-fact, a_ right_ way to love someone (like caring for them, believing in them, and never letting them forget who they are meant to be.)

-Beliefs are made by man and man is made by his beliefs, this is where all our flaws lie-

Sentence Count:5


	20. Tocophobia

Character: Kurenai

She never realized how hard it would be to give birth to a dead man's child. Not to say she thought it would be easy, nothing in her life has been easy…but this—this is a sort of pain she hasn't been taught to handle. It's the kind of pain that being Kunoichi doesn't soothe and doesn't make her any more prepared…if anything she feels less prepared feels like for the first time this is not something she can fight or kill or run from…this just is—and she's helpless. She's helpless but not hopeless, in her heart she still and will always love Asuma and is proud (happy even) to be having his child, she is proud to be the one to continue his line and to honor his memory, she is proud and still in love—as they say where there's love there's hope…She believes this deeply but Kurenai isn't sure how much hope will help her (or if anything ever will).

- I stare at the wall knowing on the other side the storm that waits for me-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: semi-inspired by Tori Amos's Parasol. Tocophobia is the fear of pregnancy.


	21. Pinocchio

Character: Sasori

Sasori has never had a Tinkerbelle. Never had some guiding light of unending love that he could follow to the edge of the earth forever, never changing or aging, just being (beautiful in the way art is). So slowly but surely he has fallen into a evil abyss, traveling deeper into a darkness that has consumed him…but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart somewhere. Somewhere where no one can see it beats, for his mother and father who never loved him, even when he tried so hard to make them real…to make them really love him. He holds them, cradles his puppet family in his arms and sits…he does not wish or pray or any of those childish things—Sasori has no Tinkerbelle, no witch or angel or fairy godmother to answer his prayers…so he just sits and imagines how beautiful it would be if they could just be real (though maybe deep inside, deeper than where his heart is all he wants is to be a real boy too.)

-I'm going to find the blue fairy-

Sentence Count: 5

A/N: quote taken from the movie Artificial Intelligence when David looks for the blue fairy so she can turn him from a robot to a boy so his mother will love him.


	22. Celebration

Character : Gaara

Even though you've known them all your life, today is the first day you feel like you have a brother and sister, or maybe it's the first day you've let yourself feel this way. It's a long road, becoming human, and you think that you bravely began this travel and have made slow but sure progress towards the goal Naruto has given you. Even still your beyond shocked when you _cry _(its something you've forgotten you can do) just because of a stupid piece of paper and a picture—you feel undeniably _human _and your not sure how good that feels (but none of that matter as the words _happy birthday_ Gaara are imprinted in paper and most importantly in your heart.)

-Even the smallest seed will grow someday-

Sentence Count: 3

A/N: happy belated birthday indigo ocean…I love ya chickie.


	23. Moving

Character: Orochimaru

When you leave your young, stupid, out of place, and to damn powerful for your own good…so you turn your back on them and when you leave a piece of you (most of you really) stays with them. However, you suppose that who you used to be has no place in your life now… even still when he takes your arms you're a teenager all over again…you yell and scream like the brat you've always been and you feel stupid, hurt, and powerless. And now…right now its two against three in a way its never been before but yet has (you decide this thought is something the new you is too good to care about) and you wonder when it got this way, you wonder when they became the people growing and changing and you became unmoving—when she hits you, it hits you—your still the same no matter how much you left behind your still the same. So they don't try to get you back, they don't try to change your mind (deep down your surprised_, disappointed_ even by this) but its for the better because you know—even if you did come back, the rest of you wouldn't have.

-And when it's over don't look back-

Sentence Count: 4


	24. Shark

Character: Kisame

Kisame believes he's the example of pure born evil. It is in this belief his confidence and strength and power come from and grow. He knows no loyalty, no family, no good human feelings, no fear. He is, in his own right (or maybe just his own mind) a god, a being so amazing so incredible people bow and cower before him. Except _him,_ Itachi (the name is thought spitefully though he would never speak it that way…such expressions are below him). With Itachi's every move and gesture it is clear that while Kisame might be a god to others—in Itachi's all seeing eyes he is and will always be nothing more than a fish out of water.

-If you are everything I'm am the nothing that will consume you-

Sentence Count: 5


	25. Casualty

Character: Hayate

Hayate has been sick since he can remember, and for his short life that's a long time…so he doesn't understand, can't comprehend why everyone is so worried now. He's still a ninja, still a great ninja and a few coughs here and there don't change that (he won't let it, can't let it.) Raidou is discussing the life of a ninja in all its fleeting, dangerous glory and he's staring dead at Hayate…he's staring and he asks nonchalantly if Hayate is ok (and Hayate is upset, insulted but won't say it, can't say it.) Hayate will shrug it off and continue to watch the genin…he will speak quietly, carefully and say 'ninja are in the business of dying Radiou", Radiou will correct him—'you mean death, not dying'. It's almost funny (or ironic, for all his brilliance Hayate never did learn the difference) that only weeks later he'll die, not because of a cough but because of being a ninja (he thanks god for this little honor), he'll die the way he meant to (wanted to,had to) and feel proud—he'll also feel a tinge of regret because he'll never speak to Radiou again (Hayate convinces himself its not because he'll miss him, or any of them, its just because he'd like to let Radiou know—he meant exactly what he said.)

-Whatever you are, be that on purpose and be it well-

Sentence Count: 5


	26. Identity

Character: Ino

Sometimes Ino feels like she isn't even Ino anymore. All though the rational part of her is saying that's ridiculous, saying who else could you be Ino (_ino pig, desperate little ino pig_.) But Ino always been inside everyone else (Shikamaru says it might just be a result of her technique, maybe she should learn to fight outside of peoples minds), she's always found herself, who she should be through what she thought the world wanted, and the world doesn't want Ino ( _Sauske doesn't want you Ino, you pig, you stupid pig_). Her dad tells her it's a teenage thing, it happens to everyone—even still she's afraid, afraid when she doesn't even know who she is anymore, doesn't even know who she's supposed to be (_stupid Ino, stupid pig, are you lost you stupid pig…can't find your way home piggy?)_ Everyday when she leaves the flower shop she brings forget me nots and pretends everyone sends them to her (_Ino, you pig—they fatten you up first you stupid pig_)—she pretends they care and pretends not to care that they don't (_you pig, dumb pig those flowers won't make you smell any better—they won't change a thing, won't change a damn thing_.)

-There's not a lot of me left anymore-

Sentence Count: 5


	27. Sacrifice

Character: Haku

Haku is not a girl…if he has to say this _one _more time, just one more time…he'll kill himself; better yet he'll kill whoever says it (or maybe not, killing never has been his thing). Haku has always thought of himself as very _male_, or maybe he just never thought about…maybe it was just one of the stupid things a ninja doesn't have time to think about (maybe its because Haku isn't anything more than a tool, do tools think?) Or maybe its just one of those little things people end up thinking about when they are dying. He _can't_ stop thinking, 'I'm not a girl, I'm not a girl', it's stupid, it's childish, and it's definitely easier than thinking about _Zabuza_ and whatever will become of him.

-And will we ever end up together? No, I think not, it's never to become-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: quote pulled from Sally's song, I think parts of this song fit however I'm not implying they should be a couple!

I sense there's something in the wind  
That seems like tragedy's at hand  
And though I'd like to stand by him  
Can't shake this feeling that I have  
The worst is just around the bend

And does he notice my feelings for him?  
And will he see how much he means to me?  
I think it's not to be

What will become of my dear friend  
Where will his actions lead us then?  
Although I'd like to join the crowd  
In their enthusiastic cloud  
Try as I may, it doesn't last

And will we ever end up together?  
No, I think not, it's never to become  
For I am not the one

And will we ever end up together?  
No, I think not, it's never to become  
For I am not the one


	28. Reality

Character: Hiashi

Neji thinks of himself as a caged bird…this amuses and angers Hiashi at the same time. For now Hiashi will let Neji think he has kept this a secret, let him think his resentment and rebellion goes unnoticed…Neji posses no threat now. Someday Hiashi will have to speak to Neji, to let him know he is failing as a Hyuuga and as a branch member, to let him know he does not yet understand the meaning of being a bracnch member (perhaps now he is too young)—because if he did he would know…from the second he was born he never had wings at all.

-Sometimes the little engine just can't-

Sentence Count: 3


	29. Fleeting

Character: Deidara

He's beautiful, not in the lust inducing sensual kind of way but in a…artistic manner. In the way that he is moving, breathing—art, Deidara can't really stop looking at him, can't stop thinking, pondering like an observer in an art gallery looking at Picasso, something so strange so unnatural that its—captivating. And then just like that he's dead, less like a sculpture and more like a broken doll and…3 days later he doesn't even cross Deidara's mind anymore because he was…power, beauty….art—just another bang in the chaos of Deidara's life.

-Love's such a joke, Like a little Jack-in-the-box, you know-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: yea I know its been a while but I honestly thought I was done with this series…I thought wrong.


	30. Icecream

Character: Mikoto U.

Mikoto's favorite day was always Saturday. Ice-cream day with just her and her boys, no struggle, no worries, no family pride and honor…just her and Itachi and Sasuke. It was those moments, laying on the grass, thick cream melting on her tongue and their smiles (most importantly _Itachi's_ smile) melting her heart, that always meant the most to her. It's the last thing she thinks of when red and black eyes are staring down at her with a smile that keeps getting broader and broader and the feeling of something warm and sticky rising in her throat and (she can barely hear her mother… "life, mikoto, is like ice-cream, sweet and good yet still messy and melting quickly away from you)….she can't, can't, can't--figure out where she failed him.

-I tried to give you spring, but I fall so hard-

Sentence Count: 4


	31. ManChild

Character: Kabuto

People usually forget just how _young _Kabuto really is, because it's impossible to see him as anything other than a _man _when he's killing ANBU, fighting Tsunade and doing better than ninjas a _thousand _times his age, and standing beside Orochimaru with a smirk almost more sinister than that of the snake. But then again most people aren't around for these moments. These moments when the smell of burning skin and rotting intestines is so strong it just won't leave his nose, and he's in a corner that he _thinks_ Orochimaru can't find him in, and he's vomiting like a baby whose drank too much milk too soon—most people aren't here for these moments as Orochimaru watches Kabuto become kind of afraid, kind of too in over his head, kind of lost and confused, kind of--a weak, sniveling, pathetic _boy_.

-Are you choking on more than you can chew?-

Sentence Count: 3


	32. Rival

Character: Gai

Your one of the only ninja that can fight against the Sharingan, one of the only ninja that can tell a person's attack by just looking at their feet. Faces, you learn, aren't really as important as people make them seem…and eyes, you learn, aren't the only key to someone's soul. That's why Kakashi is your friend as well as your rival—you don't need to see his face, or look into his eyes to _know_ he's still hurting over his long lost team mates. So when you approach him, challenging him to a "lively and joyful battle of thumbs" (which is really just your way of offering a distraction) even though his face looks exasperated and his eyes are looking past you as if your standing in the way of him and some destination and his voice has the "not again tone", his thumb is strong and his grip is tight and you _know_—without looking that this is his way of saying thank you.

-Good friends will listen, best friends all ready know-

Sentence Count: 4


	33. Acknowledgment

Character: Sakura

It doesn't really matter how much stronger you are or that you can make a mountain crumble with one simple punch. It doesn't really matter how hard you've trained and how much you've learned because at the end of the day it's just them—and when Sasuke comes back it'll be because of _him_. "Sakura" he says his eyes never leaving Naruto's "you've cut your hair"—its makes you feel so insignificant...you don't even know whether to laugh or cry (but really either way it wouldn't even matter).

-Is it so wrong to crave recognition-

Sentence Count:3

A/N: taken from bloc party the prayer:

Is it so wrong to crave recognition?  
Second best, runner-up  
Is it so wrong to want rewarding?  
To want more than is given to you?  
Than is given to you  
Tonight make me unstoppable  
And I will charm, I will slice  
I will dazzle them with my wit


	34. StandIn

Character: Genma

Genma kind of hates being the replacement. Like everything he does will always be compared to Hayate, and no matter how nice Radiou is about everything—Genma is _not_ Hayate. So when Genma gets a cold and coughs, everyone give him a look and he knows what they are thinking. Genma just kinda shrugs but he really can't shrug off the feeling of forever being in a dead man's shadow.

-I'm trying not to move, it's just your ghost passing through-

Sentence Count: 4


	35. Supporter

Character: Hanabi

Hanabi watches as Hinata struggles to survive (because really what she's doing can't be called fighting) and begins counting the seconds until Neji defeats her. She waits quietly, watches as Hinata is destroyed by a branch member, watches while everyone sees that Hinata will never make the Hyugga clan proud. As Hinata rushes forward in one last _pathetic_ attempt to prove herself…Hanabi waits and waits and waits counting patiently (5,4,3,2…) until—Neji _slams_ his palm into her chest. Hanabi tries to release the breath she didn't even know she was holding but something in her chest is clenched and something like shame is pooling in her stomach as she realizes that—this _whole_ time she had been rooting for poor, pathetic, disgraceful Hinata.

-I only want my meat if I don't see them kill the chicken-

Sentence Count: 4

A/N: this quote comes from my teacher who gave the most amazing lecture on people and the evilness of people and yet the limits to that evil, how we couldn't care less about the means to an end unless we are the ones seeing/experiencing those means….hence the quote.


	36. Manhood

Character: Mr.Lee

They used to call you fairy boy, weakling, fag, pansy, and when you were finally _married_ everyone was shocked, then you had a _son_ (of all things) and no one really knew what to say to that. But you were happy, proud…finally someone who will look up to you, want to be like you, see you as a _man_. But then your son ends up being a disappointment and everyone gives you _the like father like son_ look and slowly but surely you begin to lose hope. But Rock Lee doesn't give up and slowly but surely he becomes more and more like _him_, Gai, and soon he is great and soon people speak of him in hushed tones "have you heard about Gai's boy", _Gai's_ boy _not_ your boy. You can't help but cry (fairy boy, weakling, fag, pansy) when it hits you that not even your own _son_ looks at you as a real man.

- I've got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground-

Sentence Count: 5

A/N: Yes its Mr.Lee because technically Lee's name is Rock Lee hence Lee being his last name. This came to me because I always wondered how Lee's father had to feel about his own son becoming another man (as opposed to Chouji or Shikamaru who become more like their fathers or some sort of combination.) Quote comes from death of a sales man…if you've read it you'd understand why it fits.


	37. Omen

Character: Fugaku U.

Your son is changing, maybe it's because he's gotten older but you feel as if you're loosing him to _something_. Its even beginning to scare you that Itachi is spending more and more time with Sasuke, it scares you that for the first time you realize you don't even _know _your other son (other son, is that all he is?). Your son is changing, slipping through your fingers and Sasuke one day tells you he will grow up and be just like Itachi…you observe his dark hair and dark eyes silently and then carefully say "Sasuke for your sake, you better hope you don't.", it's the first words you've ever really _said_ to your oth…your son and something in your gut hopes those words will be enough—enough to stop what's coming, enough to get your son back, enough to keep your son here, enough to make a difference (but some things are too late.)

- Oh gods, this year again I pray...two children, please?-

Sentence Count: 3


	38. Puppeter

Character: Kankuro

He is a puppet _master _(well maybe master is _over-exaggerating_ a bit; he will never be as good as Sasori). There is something about that feeling of total control that he's addicted to (maybe because with siblings like his, control is hard to come by). Puppets, he thinks, are better than real people, always there, always listening, never annoying, never threatening him, always following his every move, always making him feel worthwhile. Unless that puppet is Gaara with Shukaku's voice coming from his mouth—then Kankuro hates puppets because he is _only_ a mediocre puppet master…not a ventriloquist and the thought that some monster has more control over his brother than him makes Kankuro wish he was as unfeeling as his puppets.

- Tears on my pillow, of course they're not mine-

Sentence Count: 5


	39. Mourning

Character: Yugao

Though no one will say it…everyone thinks the way you're grieving is…stupid (pathetic actually). Hayate was a ninja, a _sick_ ninja much less and his approaching death was as obvious as the green jumpsuit Gai insists on wearing. It's stupid that you're _crying_ over a man who everyone else was simply counting down until he died….not only crying but making foolish promises of vengeance. Even though no one will say it…honestly…you were loosing Hayate long before he died…loosing him to his sickness, loosing him to his determination, loosing him to missions, loosing him to Genma—honestly though no one will say it, its about time for you to realize—he was never yours to begin with.

-I know its over, and it never really began, but in my heart it was so real -

Sentence count: 4


	40. Elusive

Character: Temari

Temari remembers the day she met him. He comes into her life as a shadow and grips her like the darkness that has hovered over her entire life. Still something about him makes her…want him…want to hear his slow drawl and watch his triumphs yet still _beat_ him into the ground with the flick of her fan. But no matter how close she gets he is always inching _just_ out of her reach and she's has to remind herself shadows (though always there) aren't meant to be held.

-The chase is for those who are afraid of the race-

Sentence Count: 4


	41. Superior

Character: Suigetsu

Suigetsu knows that this thing with him and Sasuke is completely business. If it came down to is, he'd kill Sasuke if he had to (if he could), Sasuke is nothing more than a means to an end. In this way (and in this way only) Suigetsu doesn't need Kisame's sword to be better than him.

-You can't mix business with pleasure-

Sentence Count: 3

_A/N: So I know it's been a while. Sorry another series began to consume my time. Requests are taken! _


	42. Savior

Character: Sai

For months now, you have been preparing for this day, drawing secretly in the night, creating your strongest arsenal. You can remember Naruto's words clearly: "I will bring Sasuke back Sai because sometimes being a friend means doing what is best for someone even if they can't see it yet." This alone is why when Naruto finally finds Sasuke; you will be fully prepared to kill him. You know his death will upset Naruto and Sakura (they will more than likely hate you), but you also know—it will be a lot less painful than finally having to realize that the Sasuke they once knew died long before they could save him.

-The cruelest things have been done out of love-

Sentence Count: 4


	43. Flying

A/N: So I'm back, after finally hitting a dry spot I've decided to come back to my little babies. Disclaimer and all that still remain. Requests taken.

Sakura:

Sometimes being with Lee felt like flying. In the reckless abandon sort of way, the weightless try not to throw up sort of way, the don't forget the safety procedures kind of way, the I want to go home now sort of way. In the don't look down (or back) because there's nothing left way. Sometimes being Lee makes Sakura yearn for blue birds, ravens, and grey nests but other times (most times) being with Lee felt like flying in the moving on and letting go kind of way, the finally getting wings of her own sort of way.

-You are, you are my superman-

Sentences: 4


	44. Stepfather

Character: Sasuke

It doesn't take long before you hear the news: Kakashi is dead. Your new teammates stare at you, watching as your eyes burn and blur, bleeding a deep red. For a brief second your eight years old all over again, sitting alone on a playground much too big for you—swallowing down that unmistakable feeling of loosing a father.

-Missing, mostly waving, young as I was-

Sentences: 3


	45. Girl

Character: Temari

Temari has always been rough around the edges with a sharper center, deadly with fleeting elegance much like a gust from her paper fan—one of the boys. So its of no surprise that when Temari gets her period she is shocked and disgusted and finds a dark rag quickly, erasing all evidence. Garaa will ask what's wrong with open disdain and Temari will say nothing—it just one of the many internal wounds she will learn to suffer.

-Do you know what if feels like in this world; for a girl?-

Sentences: 3


End file.
